{"id":46461,"date":"2023-07-17T19:49:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T02:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=46461"},"modified":"2023-07-20T22:03:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-21T05:03:08","slug":"ron-v-don-another-in-a-series-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/ron-v-don-another-in-a-series-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ron v. Don: Another in a Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

(Chuck Muth)<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 As I wrote several weeks ago, if the election for the GOP presidential nominee was held today, I\u2019d cast my ballot for Ron DeSantis.\u00a0 However\u2026
\u00a0
The election is\u00a0NOT<\/u>\u00a0being held today.\u00a0
\u00a0
Still seven more months to go before the first primary\/caucus.\u00a0 As such, I\u2019m trying to keep an open mind.\u00a0 Anything can happen between now and next February\u2026and will.
\u00a0
Also, as I\u2019ve said, if Trump wins the nomination\u2026I\u2019m voting for Trump.\u00a0 If DeSantis wins the nomination\u2026I\u2019m voting for DeSantis.\u00a0 If any of the other candidates win the nomination\u2026that\u2019s who I\u2019m voting for.
\u00a0
The\u00a0ONLY<\/u>\u00a0thing I\u2019m focusing on is\u2026which candidate has the best shot at taking out Biden and Kamala.\u00a0 Our nation won\u2019t survive another four years of Dumb and Dumber.
\u00a0
In my opinion \u2013 and feel free to disagree with it \u2013 Trump\u2019s created some major problems for himself in that department while DeSantis has, so far, clearly positioned himself as the most dangerous threat to Trump and the nomination.
\u00a0
With that in mind, some observations from the last couple of days\u2026
\u00a0
1.)\u00a0 Donald Trump blew off the Family Leadership Summit of some 2,000 evangelical conservatives in Iowa this weekend, opting instead to speak at the TPUSA conference in Florida, a decision characterized broadly as a \u201cmistake.\u201d
\u00a0
Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of the Family Leader, told CBS News that Trump chose not to show up.\u00a0 \u201cI don’t think it is just a smart idea on his part,” he said.
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Trump\u2019s support among pro-lifers has softened, especially after he blamed the GOP\u2019s less-than-successful midterm election results last year on pro-life advocates.
\u00a0
2.)\u00a0 Meanwhile, at the TPUSA conference on Saturday, Trump announced that Hillary Clinton is now a friend of his, so he\u2019s dropped the nickname he famously gave her in 2016.
\u00a0
\u201cI took the name \u2018Crooked\u2019 away from Hillary and we gave her a new name,\u201d Trump told the crowd.\u00a0 \u201cBeautiful.\u00a0 I call her beautiful. She\u2019s so beautiful.\u201d
\u00a0
That claim needs to be fact-checked.\u00a0
\u00a0
3.)\u00a0 Trump\u2019s new-found Hillary love stands in stark contrast to his trashing of his former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, as \u201cmilktoast\u201d for getting a polling number wrong and attacking Iowa\u2019s conservative Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds simply for remaining neutral in the primary race.
\u00a0
Also, one of his spokesmen referred to an Iowa state senator and Iraq war Marine Corps veteran as \u201cweak-kneed and lily-livered\u201d after the senator switched his endorsement to DeSantis over the Reynolds flap.
\u00a0
By the way, DeSantis said in Iowa this weekend that the attacks on Reynolds \u201cwere totally, totally out of hand and totally unnecessary,\u201d adding that he\u2019d absolutely consider her as his vice president.
\u00a0
4.)\u00a0 Second quarter fundraising figures are in…and the winner is\u2026Ron DeSantis.
\u00a0
In just six weeks since his official announcement, DeSantis hauled in $20.1 million, compared to incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden\u2019s $19.9 million and $17.7 million for Donald Trump over 12 weeks.
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In addition, DeSantis\u2019 Nevada Back Down PAC reportedly has raised over $130 million.
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No other GOP candidate managed to raise over $6 million, with former Vice President Mike Pence bringing in just $1.2 million.
\u00a0
5.)\u00a0 In an interview on FOX News this weekend, DeSantis said\u2026
\u00a0
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201c(Trump) promised to drain the swamp. It got worse. He did not drain the swamp. He promised to have Mexico pay for a border wall. They did, like, 50 miles of wall. There’s massive expanses still there. He said he was going to eliminate the national debt. They added almost $8 trillion to the debt in four years and, of course, in 2020 he turned the country over to Dr. Fauci, and those lockdowns and the borrowing and printing really sent us on a bad course.”<\/em>
\u00a0
Fact Check: TRUE
\u00a0
This is a challenge for Trump.\u00a0 He made a lot of promises and claims in 2016 that he didn\u2019t accomplish in the four years of his administration.\u00a0 And now he\u2019s making the same or additional promises.
\u00a0
For example, back in May he declared that if elected he would issue an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants.
\u00a0
Great.\u00a0 All for it.\u00a0 But\u2026*if* he can do that by executive order, why didn\u2019t he do it during the four years he was president?\u00a0 Why should we believe he\u2019d be different in a second term?
\u00a0
I know questions like this anger Trump supporters, but they\u2019re legitimate questions.\u00a0 He could still win the nomination without answering them, but I, for one, would like to hear the answer.\u00a0
\u00a0
Maybe he can change some minds.
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All I know is I don\u2019t want to make the same mistake Nevada Republicans made last year when they nominated Jim Marchant for Secretary of State and Sigal Chattah for Attorney General\u2026only to see them both crash and burn like the Hindenburg in the general election.
\u00a0
I love a\u00a0LOT<\/u>\u00a0of what Trump did in office. But that doesn\u2019t mean squat if he can\u2019t beat Biden in 2024.\u00a0
\u00a0
That\u2019s just the way it is.
\u00a0
7 Worst Habits of Highly Unelectable People<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Picking the wrong race<\/li>\n
  2. Picking the wrong district<\/li>\n
  3. Picking the wrong issues<\/li>\n
  4. Picking the wrong time<\/li>\n
  5. Picking the wrong consultants<\/li>\n
  6. Picking unnecessary fights with the media<\/li>\n
  7. Picking door-knocking over fundraising<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    FAMOUS LAST WORDS<\/strong>
    \u00a0
    \u201cI don\u2019t think Donald Trump\u2019s support is nearly as strong as people say it is.” \u2013\u00a0Iowa GOP activist Alan Ostergren<\/em><\/strong>
    \u00a0
    \u201cI\u2019m tired of the former president making everything about himself and attacking his friends and potential supporters and other Republicans who are doing great conservative things over what seems like a personal vendetta.\u201d \u2013\u00a0Former Iowa GOP official Cody Hoefert<\/em><\/strong>
    \u00a0
    Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.\u00a0 You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.\u00a0 His views are his own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    (Chuck Muth)\u00a0\u2013 As I wrote several weeks ago, if the election for the GOP presidential nominee was held today, I\u2019d cast my ballot for Ron DeSantis.\u00a0 However\u2026\u00a0The election is\u00a0NOT\u00a0being held today.\u00a0\u00a0Still seven more months to go before the first primary\/caucus.\u00a0 As such, I\u2019m trying to keep an open mind.\u00a0 Anything can happen between now and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[3466],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46461"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46463,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46461\/revisions\/46463"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}